Delays-Ends-Veins
by GeekGirl2468
Summary: Levy McGarden and six other students were kidnapped, all of them completely different. They all must work together to solve the only thing their kidnapper left them: Delays-Ends-Veins. But what does that mean?
1. Chapter 1

**Delays-Ends-Veins**

 **Chapter One**

My head shot up when I awoke. My memories of the events that happened earlier flashed through my brain at a hundred miles per hour.

I was abducted.

 _I shouted back to my mum, who forced me to go get some shopping from the local supermarket. I was angry as to why my older sister couldn't get them and she responded with that she had to study for her final exams._

 _I was walking down the street, the supermarket was in eye reach. Why couldn't I have got there sooner._

 _A van pulled up beside me and the back opened up. I immediately knew something was wrong and sped up my pace when a sharp pain shocked me from behind. Everything then went black._

I could still feel the electricity tingling in my fingers.

My eyes shot around the room as I tried to figure out where I was. I was In some sort of bedroom. It was surprisingly nicer than my bedroom at home but I wouldn't admit that out loud since some sick freak brought me here. The floor, which I had woken up on, was wooden and not very comfortable so I got up off it. There was a giant number 04 on the back of my hand. What does that mean?

I heard a mechanical click and a section in the wall swung open almost door like. If it make loud gear noises then I definitely would've mistaken it as a hidden door but it was just a cheap mechanism.

I walked towards the open space and poked my head out. It was a hallway of what seemed like a hotel or a dorm of sorts. I stepped out and stood there for a while, waiting to see what happened. My door swung shut with a whirr and, like my hand, a giant 04 was painted on it. Though the number on my hand looked more like a scar than it being simply painted on. The door looked like an actual door on this side and not just part of the wall. Strange.

"H-Hello?" A feminine voice came from my right. I turned and a girl with long blonde hair was standing there shaking. She was wearing the same uniform as me but I didn't recognise her.

"Hi." I replied, trying to keep my voice steady. She walked towards me, passing three other doors before she reached me. I then noticed the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

"I'm so glad that there's another person here!" She said rubbing her eyes. A big 01 was scarred onto her hand. She pulled her hands away from her eyes looking shocked. "Not that I want to drag another person through this hell!"

"It's fine." I said, a small smile creeping onto my face. "I'm Levy McGarden, by the way."

"It's nice to meet you two!" She smiled. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia."

So she's the infamous Lucy Heartfilia. The blonde bombshell that dated nearly every boy in our year and who's stolen a few of my crushes away from me. I heard she's an alright person despite all the rumours that say she's a slag and whatnot. I never really listen to them that much.

"Wow!" Lucy interrupted my thoughts. "I love your hair! Is it natural?" She sounded so sincere and like she actually wanted to talk to me. It was probably only because I was the only other person here. She wouldn't even look at me in a normal situation.

I nodded my head and she smiled. Such a lovely smile, it's a waste that she's here.

"Ugghh! I'm so hungry!" A male voice came a couple doors away from us. We both turned to towards the voice and a pink haired boy walked out holding his stomach. He looked around for a moment before realising we were there. "Hey any of you got any snacks?" Like Lucy he was wearing the same uniform as me. We both shook our heads and he sighed and walked closer to us but only to get hit in the face with the door that was next to mine.

A tall raven haired boy walked out the room, his hands in his pockets. He glance at the pink haired boy and sneered. The pink haired boy glared at him before shouting, "What was that for, you jackass!"

The other boy just rolled his eyes and turned towards me and Lucy. "Obviously, the door opened by itself you cur." I got second hand humiliation from his venom like tone. It would be best to stay away from this one. He walked towards me and Lucy, his uniform the same as ours but more pristine. He looked unusually posh for our public school uniform though he wore it with pride.

The pink haired boy just seethed behind him, a deadly look in his eye. The raven haired boy smiled at me and Lucy before saying, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of asking you two ladys' your name."

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia and before you indulge me with your name, don't bother. I know all about you, Gray Fullbuster" Lucy stared at the boy- or should I say Gray- in front of us with malice. Wow two of the schools biggest flirts in one room and one of them hate the other on their first meeting. I would say it's surprising but anyone would've guessed.

Gray turned to me, a look a displessure on his face before he turned back on the charm. "And you?" His voice was filled with resentment and what I could only assume was a hint of plessure. Was he a some sort of masochist that thrives off the hate from women? Probably not but it would be an interesting development if it turned out true.

"I-I'm Levy McGarden." I cursed myself for stuttering in the presence of Gray. I mean it would be understandable in a time like this but I want to seem strong and not some sort of weak chil-

"Gray-Sama!" My thoughts were interrupted by the screech of someone I knew all too well. Juvia Lockser. I had never spoken to her but she was in my class and all she would talk about all day was 'her precious Gray-Sama'. At first it was kind of funny to see her so obsessed with him and him not return her feelings but it got old probably after a day or two.

She pushed through me and Lucy before attacking Gray in a monster of a bear hug. His face looked pained like the touch of her was going to set him on fire. "Juvia is so happy that her Gray-Sama is here, it makes Juvia feel much more relieved!" It also annoyed me that she spoke like a baby. She's already seventeen she should speak like a normal seventeen year old!

Gray attempted to push Juvia off, letting me get a look of his hand. 03. I'm guessing the pink haired boy- who was sulking behind everyone- is 02 since his room was before Gray's and after Lucy's. Gray somehow manged to push her off and I saw her hand too. 06. That means there is at least 6 people here. It made me feel slightly better about this situation that I wasn't alone but all the people here seemed a bit eccentric.

"Ah!" Juvia shrieked after seeing Lucy. "It's a love rival!"

"Huh?" Gray and Lucy said simultaneously.

"Don't worry Gray-Sama! Juvia will make sure none of the succubus' attempts work!"

"Juvia, was it?" Lucy said, a fake smile was spread on her lips. "Don't worry I wont make any moves on your 'Gray-Sama', alright?" Lucy looked like she was about to pop.

"Juvia will still keep an eye on you." She said latching onto Gray's arm.

 _Growl_

We all turned our head's toward the pink haired boy. He clutched his stomach again and groaned.

"Looks like this little mongrel is hungry." Gray said, smirking. The pink haired boy just growled at him, his cheeks pink with embarrassment.

"Stop calling me names." He spat out.

"Then what would you like me to call you?" Gray paused and it looked like he was holding back a laugh. "Mutt?"

The pink haired boy literally blew up and in a frenzy of shouts and curses, I heard the name "Natsu Dragneel!" which I'm guessing belongs to him. Gray just laughed at his foolishness.

"Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Juvia Lockser..." The voice came from the other end of the corridor. I turned my head towards the voice and there stood the scarlet haired beauty who practically ran the school. Erza Scarlet. "And Levy McGarden. I'm glad that there are some familiar faces around here." She walked forward, her arms crossed around her chest and a smug smile was glued onto her face.

"How do you know Juvia's name?"

"I took it upon myself to learn all the names of the students in our year." Erza looked at her nails and a big 07 was scared onto her hand. "It's a pleasure to finally talk to you all." She didn't look up from her nails.

Gray walked up to her, Juvia still attached to his arm, and smiled. "Likewise" He said, bowing before Erza. Juvia hiss at the beauty before hugging Gray's arm tighter.

I stood there fidgeting with my hands as the others all made pleasantries. This was too many people for my liking and I could feel my anxiety start to act up. It felt like my stomach was being tied in knots and the only thing to stop it was to crawl into my bed at home and read a book until it went away but obviously I couldn't do that in this hell hole.

"Hey any of you guys got numbers on your hands too?" The voice came from where Erza came from. It was deep and I think I knew it from somewhere but I couldn't put my finger on it. That was when it hit me.

The boy from last year; the one that saved me.

Gajeel Redfox.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Sooooooo I decided to start a new fanfiction. This one's probably not going to be that long but i had the idea so I wrote it! Don't mind the grammatical or spelling errors (If there is any) because I couldn't be bothered to read through it woops. If anyone would like to beta my next chapter be my guest but if you don't really care about the errors then that's fine.**

 **I'm also working on a GaLe oneshot but that's going to take some time. (Mainly because I want it to be perfect!)**

 **Also chapter 488 made me cry so much! ;_;**

 **Byye**


	2. Chapter 2

**Delays-Ends-Veins**

 **Warning: This chapter contains sensitive subjects.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

 _The sound of the traffic below me rattled around in my head. Everything seemed unnaturally calm, like what I was about to do wasn't wrong. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes._

 _"Hey." I jumped, almost falling off. A boy with dark spiky hair stood next to me only behind the railing. "I'm Gajeel."_

 _I stared at him, my eyes burning a hole through him. He had piercings all over his face and an aura that said 'I'm going to pound you into the ground'. He was definitely a delinquent. "So what're you doing out here so late?"_

 _"Isn't it obvious?" My voice was shaky. I looked away from him out of shame._

 _"No." I don't know if he was being stupid on purpose or what but it annoyed me profusely. I sighed and placed my head in my hands._

 _"I was-" I took a deep breath. "I was going to jump." I could feel my face heat up. I never talked about this with anyone, not even my counsellor; I didn't want them to throw me in a crazy house._

 _"I guess you're feeling pretty sad and angry right now then." I nodded my head as a couple tears trickled out of my eyes. "If you jump then you wont be able to feel that again." I shot my head up and looked him in the eye. Was he really encouraging me to do it? "You also wont be able to feel happiness or love if you do it. You wont be able to feel the joy of finding that special someone or how you would feel when you hold your first born for the first time. Sadness and anger are only temporary and don't last forever, so even if it seems impossible to carry on, you've got to prove that you can do it. If you can do it then in theory you can do anything." He said this all so nonchalantly that it could've been a regular conversation between regular people._

 _I stood there and cried._

 _I don't know how long I stood there but Gajeel patently waited there. Once my sobs turned to soft whimpers I muttered a quiet thank you to him. He nodded his head and once I was back over the barrier he left._

"Levy?" Lucy's voice broke through my memory. I blinked a couple times before remembering where I was. "You've got 04 on your hand, right?"

"Oh. Erm... yeah." I felt a bit disoriented after remembering all that crap.

After I got home last year I searched up Gajeel and found out that he went to the same school as me and that his last name was Redfox. I never spoke or even met the guy again.

"So that means that there are seven people here." Gray said, a bit unsure of himself.

"No duh or can you not count." Natsu said glaring at Gray. Gray just rolled his eyes and Juvia stuck out her tongue at Natsu.

"Okay first thing first, I think we need to search this place as it seems this corridor leads off to somewhere." Erza said sternly.

"Should we split or what?" Lucy said, crossing her arms over her large chest. Why do all the girls except me have giant chests!

"Hmm." Erza thought for a second before nodding her head. "Yes, I think that is the best plan."

"Juvia thinks Juvia should be paired with her Gray-Sama."

"No... No I think we should all investigate singularly and then meet up here and discuss what we've found." Erza has already taken the roll of leader with all of us being awake for around 5 minutes. Juvia pouted and gripped onto Grays arm tighter.

Gajeel put his hands into his pockets and strode off. I bet he thinks he's cool being all dark and mysterious, what a prick. I nodded my head at everyone and hurried off in the opposite direction to Gajeel.

This place was pretty packed. It had a kitchen full of food- which Natsu was probably going to devour in a second tops- a lounge type area that had two long sofas and it even had a full on gym with all the necessary gym equipment. I would say that this place was pretty nice but the whole 'kidnapping' thing has left me a pretty bitter.

After around ten minutes of exploring this half of the place, I went back to the meet up place and found Lucy sitting on the floor. She looked pretty drained from all that had happened. I guess I needed to comfort her somehow. It was a shame that I was terrible at comforting people, probably due to my crippling anxiety.

"H-Hey." I said awkwardly. Lucy grunted something like a reply and I sat down next to her.

"What were you doing before you were taken?" She blurted out.

I took a deep breath before replying. "I was going to the supermarket to get the groceries and I was angry that my mum didn't make my sister go get them." I pulled my knees up to my chin and rested my head against them. "Then a van pulled up and someone jumped out and shocked me. I think it was a taser but I'm not too sure." Lucy closed her eyes, a look of pain ran over her face.

"Someone knocked on my door and I thought it was my father so I opened it. There was a guy in one of those weird plain white masks. You know the ones you can buy at a crafts store. Well anyway hey grabbed me and put something over my mouth and then I woke up here." She had tears in her eyes again. I reached over to her and squeezed her shoulder as an act of reassurance. She smiled at me weakly before burying her face in her hands.

"Guys!" A voice cut through the silence. "Have you seen the kitchen! There's so much food!" Natsu strode up to us with his hands behind his head. Lucy looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"Do ever stop talking about food?" Lucy said standing up. I felt awkward, as I was the only one sitting down, so I quickly stood up and looked down to hide my bright red face.

"I also talk about fire."He said too happily.

"Great. We're trapped in here with a hungry pyromaniac." Lucy's voice was dripping with sarcasm that Natsu obviously didn't understand as he smiled even wider at her remark.

We stood there for a couple seconds before the sound of pounding footprints broke the silence. Gray came round the corner; he was half walking half jogging. Juvia followed close behind him. Gray stopped a few steps in front of us. "There's something you guys need to see." The other three of us looked at each other before we began walking the the way Gray came from.

The other corridor led to a garden of sorts. It was still inside the building but there was plant's and vegetation everywhere. Gray caught up to us and shook his head, "Not here. This way" He led us to a grey door hidden behind a tree sapling.

Once we got into the room I understood why Gray brought us here. The room was empty. The walls painted a vibrant white. Erza stood in front of one wall, examining it. She tapped her chin and tilted her head to the side. Gajeel lent against the opposite wall and was looking around the room in disbelief.

"The three of you come here and examin this for me." Erza said, still looking at the wall. I walked forward and stood next to Erza, her height overpowering my own.

 _Delays Ends Veins_

The words were written on the wall in black. My mind rushed hundreds of things this could mean but none of them seemed realistic, all were too fantastical or too morbid.

"Any idea what it means?" Erza said turning towards me. I shook my head.

"Juvia has an idea." Juvia said knotting her hands together. "What if it means that if we delay something-" She paused. "We die."

The atmosphere was tense. Everyone just looked down and thought about it for a minute. Thanks, Juvia, for bringing down the mood.

"Don't worry I'll make su-" Erza was cut off by a click. Lucy rushed to the door and rattled the handle.

The door was locked.

"Shit." Gajeel cursed under his breath. Lucy let out a cry of panic as she continued to attempt to open the door. My heart started beating faster and my stomach was getting knotted up again. I crouched and started massaging my temples as a headache started forming. I closed my eyes tight and pressed my palms into my eyes. The others were saying something but my mind was preoccupied with calming myself down. I felt a hand on my back and I looked over my shoulder to come face to face with Gajeel. I jumped up and he stood up with me. "Don't worry I'm going to try to get us out of here." I could feel my face heat up.

Gajeel ran over to the door and he planted a solid kick on the door. I looked around for the others and saw Lucy bawling in the corner with Erza patting her back. Gajeel kept kicking the door at an attempt to break it down but a metallic clang was heard each time he connected with the door.

The room began to fill with a sweet but chemically smell and I at once began to feel woozy. Juvia was the first to fall to the floor unconscious. My eyelids felt heavy and I fell to the fall with a thud.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Heyyyy. Sorry the start of this chapter is kind of serious and sensitive.**

 **I hope you liked this chapter!**

 **Also I'm not sure that's what chloroform smells like but that's what the internet says so that's what I put. I also don't intend to smell chloroform so that's what it's going to stay as in this story.**

 **See you next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Delays-Ends-Veins**

 **Chapter Three**

I awoke to a throbbing pain in the left side of my head. I was in a room identical to the room I was in before except it was half the size and the words 'Delays-Ends-Veins' were not written on the wall. Juvia was still unconscious on the floor and Natsu was sitting in the corner with his arms crossed.

"Hey!" Natsu said noticing me sit up. "Finally someone else is awake!" He walked over to me and held out his hand for me to grab. I accepted it and he pulled me up.

"Where are the others?" I asked, a headache had started forming from the amount I had slept in the past 24 hours.

Natsu shrugged his shoulders. "It was me, you and her when I woke up." He motioned towards the door behind us. "The door wont open either."

"This is so weird." I muttered to myself.

"You're telling me!" Natsu smiled. I don't know how someone can be so happy in a situation like this. I wish I had his optimism.

"Ughhd" Juvia stirred before lifting her head and scanning the room. "Gray-Sama?" She muttered before the realisation hit her and she jumped up onto her feet. "Where is Juvia's Gray-Sama?"

No one answered.

We stood there in silence for a couple minutes -wondering what to do- when the door clicked and swung open. Natsu darted towards the door shouting a nonsensical hurray of some sort. Me and Juvia followed him silently.

I was expecting for the door to lead to the garden type room but instead it was a classroom. A completely ordinary classroom. There were three desks positioned in front of a blackboard. The chairs behind the desks were weird and had two curved metallic pieces jutting out from the back. I guess it was a take on a modern chair or something. A door was next to the chalkboard. Natsu walked over and jostled the handle and cursed under his breath. "Shit. No luck."

I walked over to the desks and our names were on little cards sitting neatly on the surface, which I'm guessing meant we had to sit down in the correct desks.

"What the hell is this!" Natsu shouted picking up his name card. Juvia picked up her own and examined it carefully.

"I think we have to sit down." I sat down in my chair and rested my arms on the desk. I tried to act calm and collected but inside I was kicking and screaming to get out of here. The others followed me in sitting down in their own chairs and a loud whirring sound came from behind me. I went to turn around but the two metallic pieces had moved from the back to the front so they trapped me in the chair. I looked over to the others and the same thing had happened to them.

"The fuck is happening!" Natsu exclaimed. I attempted to wiggle free but it just resulted in the metal cutting into my arms which hurt like hell. Then the weirdest thing yet started happening.

The chalkboard started writing by itself. It looked like someone was definitely writing on it but if I was not mistaken there were only three people in the room and all of us were strapped onto chairs.

L

After a second or so after the letters were written on the blackboard the metallic strips moved back to the back on the chair and we were free. I rubbed my arms and walked up to the blackboard. I rubbed my hand over a letter and nothing happened. This was too weird.

"What does it mean?" Juvia asked, her eyebrows were knotted together in frustration. She had her finger up in the air and she kept pointing to each letter and mouthing them, no doubt to try and find out what it meant.

Natsu walked up the board and rubbed his chin. "Sksed eht rednu kool?" His pronunciation was a bit off from how I would've said it but there's no one way to pronounce random letters. Then a thought popped into my head from no where.

"Backwards?" I muttered. Juvia and Natsu shot their head's towards me, their mouths hanging slightly open.

"That's weird I just thought about that." Natsu said, a small laugh escaping his lips.

"Juvia too." Juvia sounded less enthusiastic about this. That was a seriously weird coincidence.

I looked at the board more carefully and spied myself a piece of chalk on the floor. I picked it up and began printing the letters out backward.

 _S_

"Sweet!" Natsu exclaimed. He rushed to his desk and crawled under it. "Guys, there's a button under here! Check yours too!"

"Juvia would never be seen crawling under a desk!" She shrieked and crossed her arms over her chest. I walked past her and crouched. There was a giant black button under my desk too. "F-Fine! You guy's aren't looking at Juvia now so Juvia might as well." I rolled my eyes and pressed the button. A small beep sounded followed by another two. I stood back up and patted the dusk off my skirt.

The door clicked and swung open. Lucy, Gray, Gajeel and Erza walked in smiling. "You guys did it!" Lucy grinned.

"A door opened on our side but I thought it would be best to get you first." Erza said, I could tell she was trying hard not to smile but it kept crawling onto her face. Juvia had already ran off, grabbed Gray's arm and began squealing. Erza shot a glance at Juvia and coughed. "Well shall we get going?"

"Are you not going to explain what happened with you guys?" Natsu said, a look of confusion on his face.

"It's better if we explain it later." Gray said attempting to pry Juvia off of him. The three of us nodded our heads and followed the others through to the other room.

There was a window with 'LOOK UNDER THE DESKS' written on it, explaining why it was written backwards on the blackboard if the window was indeed one way. There was a small metal box next to the window. I stood there examining it for a second before Lucy beckoned me through one of two doors.

The door led back to the big white room with the words 'Delays-Ends-Veins' on the wall. We all stood in a circle-like huddle and Erza started explaining what the others had gone through but mid explanation a loud click interrupted her.

"Well done." A distorted voiced boomed out from somewhere. "You have all passed the first trial. That's one less trial before you all can leave." We all stayed silent. Lucy shot her head around probably trying to locate where the voice was coming from. "No response? That's fine." The voice let out a little laugh before erupting in a coughing fit.

"Why did you bring us here?" Erza shouted, to nowhere in particular.

"I had to complete my experiment and you lot fit the criteria." They had a certain cockiness in their voice; it made me dislike them straight away. "I take it you're wondering what this experiment is." They paused, no doubt for dramatic effect. "It's for mi..." They cut them selves off with another coughing fit. "I just had an amazing idea! For now, you guys don't need to worry your silly little heads about it but you will find out in your own time. Ciao!" The use of Italian there confused me a bit but I think they're just a bit eccentric. Wait... why am I focusing on the odd use of Italian! I should be focusing on the fact that I part of some sick freaks experiment!

"Hey!" Gajeel shouted, walking away from us. "What the fuck is this 'experiment'!" After there was no response, he grunted and punch the wall before he stormed out.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Short shitty chapter sorry. I had writers block and it didn't help that it's too freaking hot here in england but I might rewrite this chapter when it cools down cuz it seriously sucks. I also really just wanted to update it as it had been over a week or something and it needed updating but I will most likely re write this soon.**

 **Also I get to go to comic con next week end! Super excited! I hope I see some hot Gray cosplayers :3**

 **I'll hopefully upload sometime next week but after that it might take me a while since I'm going on holiday and I don't know if I'm going to bring my laptop or not. I probably will as I can't go 10 minutes not on it!**

 **(Also if anything doesn't seem right please send me a message so I can correct it!)**


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